Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Autoclaves in medicine

A medical autoclave is a device that uses steam to sterilize equipment and other objects. This means that all bacteria,viruses, fungi, and spores are inactivated. However, prions, like those associated with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, may not be destroyed by autoclaving at the typical 134 °C for 3 minutes or 121 °C for 15 minutes. Also, some recently-discovered organisms, such as Strain 121, can survive at temperatures above 121 °C.